Advance Report 2000
Committee ReportsCustodian of Records
In my capacity as Earlham College Archivist and Curator of its Friends Collection, it is my pleasure and privilege to care for the records of Indiana Yearly Meeting. The minute books and other records, dating back to 1807, preserve a wealth of historical and genealogical material that few denominations in the Midwest can rival. Researchers come literally from around the world to make use of this and other material in the Friends Collection.
Not as many meetings made deposits of records this year as in the past few years. We did receive material from West Branch (Center), West Richmond, New Castle, Jericho, West River, and Knightstown.
The photocopying project with the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne continues. Records of all monthly meetings still in existence have now been sent for copying, and are now returning periodically. In the coming year we will be copying some monthly meetings that have been laid down, identifying recently arrived records not already done, and undertaking work on selected records from Western Yearly Meeting. While the process is slow, the product is of high quality, and is done free of charge.
Late last year the Indiana Historical Society published the second volume of its new edition of Abstracts of the Records of the Society of Friends in Indiana, for which I am co-editor. Work is now underway for volume three of what will probably be an eight-volume work. Material from the yearly meeting records also found its way into print in an article on the decline of Quaker pacifism that appeared in the March 2000 issue of the Indiana Magazine of History.
As is the case with many other libraries, we are moving to provide information through the Internet and World Wide Web. The Earlham website now includes an inventory of all of the yearly meeting's records as currently held. It may be found at www.earlham.edu/~libr/quaker/resources.htm. Another on-line resource that may be of interest to many is the recently completed index of obituaries and death notices in the American Friend, the predecessor to Quaker Life. It spans the period 1894-1960, and can be accessed at the above URL.
As always, I urge monthly and quarterly meetings to examine their records, identify those not needed for current business, and deposit the rest in the Indiana Yearly Meeting Archives. We are also interested in material such as photographs, scrapbooks, and other items that document our history.
Thomas D. Hamm, Custodian of Records
